Lisé Kuecker

Lisé Kuecker, Episode #138/139

I live in a village, yes an honest to God village with brick sidewalks, a nearly hundred year old library two blocks away, and streets swathed in magnolia trees. It’s in the middle of North Carolina in a region where tourists love to visit.

Locals and tourists love to mingle at the pool of a majestic old hotel and our conversations always go like this:

“Wow, this is my dream place to live, but what do you do here? How do you earn a living from paradise?”

AND, THAT MY DEAR IS A QUESTION WORTH ANSWERING.

By technical terms, I am certified Pilates, Barre, Yoga and Cycling instructor who loves nothing more than transforming people’s lives and bodies. But starting six years ago, my life needed a change and I started my first of four health clubs.

During the week, I run my multi-seven figure health and fitness business from the dining room table and back porch of my 118 year old cottage…it has a name, Elm Cottage…I haven’t quite gotten over the fabulousness of that.

Over the last 6 years I’ve built my management team to handle the majority of day-to-day operations so that I only have to visit my business locations – which are located in three states, none of which is North Carolina – from time to time.

My area of genius focuses on the big picture revenue increasing strategies like:

why are we doing what we do

changing our bottom lines to increase our profits

how to create recurring income streams• how to bring in a steady stream of new leads• strong sales systems that are easy to replicate

keeping up with trends and making changes accordingly that meet our business vision and customers needs

And, every now and again I still get to teach a class or two, because once a Pilates instructor, always a Pilates instructor.

But it wasn’t always like this.

In fact, this business was birthed in our 1200 square foot house in Washington state, with a foster son at my feet, a baby in my belly and a husband serving at Ft Lewis, Washington.

I loved fitness and had been on an amazing journey with it for several years. I had contracted with a Fortune 100 company to develop their Pilates and yoga program and I had spent two years learning some very serious lessons. And, in the end, I had a very happy staff who were very well paid, I was working very hard, but personally I was rarely taking home a paycheck.

MY DEAR, IF YOU COMPOUND PREGNANCY, MARRIAGE AND STRESS, THE RESULTS ARE RARELY PRETTY. I WAS THE MOST FRUSTRATED AND STRESSED MOTHER-TO-BE YOU COULD IMAGINE. I WAS FAR FROM A VISION OF SUCCESS.

So I made a decision, that changed my life and one that I know will change yours.

I took charge of every reason I had failed, every decision that I had made and I swore I would never make them again. I took a leap of faith on a young franchise and decided to buy three territories from it. Much to the horror of my sales rep I announced they would be in three states and no, I didn’t plan to spend 80 hours per week in them. She warned me this was not normal. I warned her neither was I {Wink}.

And so begins, my “profits from the porch” adventure.

Through these three territories, I learned many more lessons, but I followed my core concept. I worked on my business from afar, drove over and sometimes through obstacles and grew a very successful set of companies. My staff had little turnover, our numbers grew yearly and life was good. In 2013, I made the decision to buy a failing business in my franchise and in less than a year transformed it to rank in the top 5% in our franchise. I also started to hear from women entrepreneurs and military spouses. They wanted to know my secrets.

And you’re in luck. Because sharing secrets is what I do in my Kismet Club.